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Re: Almost time to wean, but I get plugged ducts easily. How

The key to weaning without getting clogged ducts is to back off nursing SLOOOOOOWLY. Drop one feeding, then wait a day or two, rinse/repeat. If you get a clog, you may want to reintroduce a nursing session to clear it up before moving on.

No pressure, but I weaned from the pump (at work) around a year but continued to nurse my baby more on my own terms for another year and a half after that. After a year, if you want to just nurse before bed or in the morning, but no other times, you can do that. So it doesn't have to be all or nothing. If you and your baby enjoy nursing, you can keep it up as long as you want, but you don't have to feel like it needs to be "on demand" after a year, you know? I never planned to nurse past a year, but I found toddler nursing to be really enjoyable, myself.

You can call me JoMo!

Mom to baby boy Joe, born 5/4/09 and breastfed for more than two and a half years, and baby girl Maggie, born 7/9/12.

Re: Almost time to wean, but I get plugged ducts easily. How

Going slow, that's the key to a trouble-free weaning. A lot of moms think that weaning has to be kind of abrupt- one day you're nursing lot, the next day you're going cold turkey with engorged and aching breasts. But if you drop one feeding at a time and allow the process to play out over a few weeks (or a few months or even years!) you're much less likely to get plugs or become troublesomely engorged.

Of course there's no pressure from us to nurse into the toddler years, but if you have any interest or are just curious what it might be like, let us know and we'll give you the sales pitch!

Re: Almost time to wean, but I get plugged ducts easily. How

I was planning on taking a few weeks to wean. I only do 4 nursings a day. Baby definitely prefers my milk to the bottle, but she's fine when a baby sitter feeds a bottle when I'm gone. I think she'll adjust quickly and easily to being weened. She has 2 and 3-year-old siblings so she's pretty distracted.

As for skipping a feeding to ween, I'm guaranteed to get a plugged duct on the first skipped feeding.

Re: Almost time to wean, but I get plugged ducts easily. How

Well, massaging your breasts and doing hand expression in lieu of a feeding might help ward off clogs, but it took me more than a month to pump wean (even though I was still nursing evenings and nights) because I'm very prone to clogs as well. If you get clogged ducts that easily, you may want to budget more time for the weaning process. It's hard to be patient but that's the best way to go.

You can call me JoMo!

Mom to baby boy Joe, born 5/4/09 and breastfed for more than two and a half years, and baby girl Maggie, born 7/9/12.

Re: Almost time to wean, but I get plugged ducts easily. How

Have you always only done only 4 nursings a day or did you use to do more? If the latter, then you're really already started the weaning process. How did your body adjust to those dropped sessions (or is that how you know you're very prone to clogged ducts?)? Unfortunately, there really isn't any trick to it. There are some things you can do to ease the discomfort if you're getting engorged due to a skipped feeding, but beyond that, the best advice really is just to do it slowly. That's not a sales pitch for nursing longer, it's just the best advice if you're trying to avoid the plugged ducts, unfortunately. Good luck!!